How to Use Petrificus Totalus Stealth Kill

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Hogwarts Legacy has a nifty stealth mechanic, one that allows you to completely incapacitate a foe. This involves the Petrificus Totalus spell, which gets unlocked fairly early in the campaign. Here’s our Hogwarts Legacy Petrificus Totalus spell guide to help you use this ability to get stealth kills.

Note: For more information, check out our Hogwarts Legacy guides and features hub.

Hogwarts Legacy Petrificus Totalus and stealth kills guide

The Hogwarts Legacy Petrificus Totalus spell or stealth kill mechanic is obtained upon completion of the Secrets of the Restricted Section main quest. It’s also when you unlock talents for your character (we’ll talk more about these in a while). Now, the ability itself doesn’t function the same way as other spells (i.e., trace a pattern and equip them via your spell wheel). Instead, it’s a fully integrated combat mechanic.

To use Petrificus Totalus in Hogwarts Legacy, you’ll first need to activate stealth mode. This is done via the Disillusionment spell (also acquired from the aforementioned quest). While it’s active, sneak up behind an unsuspecting enemy, then press the “F” key. Your character will cast the Full-Body Bind Curse, incapacitating the target and practically killing them. (Well, lore-wise, the target should still be alive, but this counts as a kill in-game). Anyway, here are some additional tidbits:

• Most small and normal-sized enemies (i.e., goblins and wizards) will get taken out immediately. If two or more hostiles are close to each other, you can quickly press “F” once more so you can petrify the other foe.
• A successful sneak attack does not break stealth (just make sure no one else is staring directly at you).
• Larger enemies or those at a higher level will not die instantly. They’ll simply take a lot of damage.

As for talents that help improve the Hogwarts Legacy Petrificus Totalus or stealth kill mechanic, you’ll want to check the Talents – Stealth tab:

• Sense of Secrecy I and II – Both talents make you harder to detect.
• Human Demiguise – Allows you to sprint while under the effects of Disillusionment.
• Petrificus Totalus Mastery – Successfully afflicting a target causes an AoE shockwave that also petrifies nearby foes. This causes a stealth multi-kill.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Hogwarts Legacy is available via Steam.